The New Direction of the Ethereum Foundation
As a leading nonprofit organization in the industry, the Ethereum Foundation plays a crucial role in the technological development and infrastructure building of the ecosystem. According to Vitalik Buterin, the foundation will focus on small-scale projects and prioritize long-term sustainability over broad resource allocation. Currently, the total supply of Ethereum (ETH) held by the foundation is only 0.16%, which is significantly lower compared to the reserves of many other blockchain project foundations.
Buterin stated that supporting Ethereum as a financial asset is no longer the foundation's primary responsibility, believing that these activities are better suited for other ecosystem groups. Therefore, this new strategy may lead the foundation to delegate some responsibilities to other stakeholders within the Ethereum community.
Buterin explained this shift: “To make reasonable use of our limited resources over a longer time frame, we are reducing the sale of Ethereum. The Ethereum Foundation will be more cautious and primarily focus on meaningful and sustainable projects.”
Market Sentiment and Key Price Movements
Last weekend, the price of Ethereum briefly dropped to $2020, then rebounded about 5% to $2113, stabilizing around $2115. Despite this slight rebound, ETH has still lost nearly 9% over the past two weeks. Currently, the Ethereum Fear and Greed Index stands at 33, indicating a clear market sentiment leaning towards fear. According to data from Santiment, positive market sentiment surged to 76% following Buterin's statement, but it has yet to translate into a rapid price recovery.
From a technical perspective, the support and resistance levels for ETH have become clearer. Since May 11, the price of Ethereum has dropped approximately 14.5% from $2375, falling to $2031 as of May 23. CryptoQuant analyst Carmelo Aleman noted that spot trading volume has sharply declined over the past 12 days, from 470,770 ETH to 256,963 ETH, a drop of 45.4%. In dollar terms, spot trading volume fell from $1.1 billion to $521.4 million.
Meanwhile, open interest in futures contracts has slightly increased, rising from $15.43 billion to $15.54 billion. Despite the continued presence of positive funding rates, indicating that long positions are still paying premiums, there has been no clear momentum to drive prices higher. Although buying activity in the spot market persists, seller liquidity remains strong.
Outlook on Key Price Levels
For Ethereum's price to reclaim levels above $2500, short-term resistance levels need to be broken, and spot trading activity must recover. The $2100 area remains below the broad buying zone of $1600 to $2600. The main upward targets are the resistance zones of $2600 to $3000. If ETH can break through this area, it may lead to a larger recovery towards the $4200 to $5000 range. While some analysts continue to predict long-term targets like $10,000, the current market structure does not support such optimistic sentiment.